Bulloch County recorded only one new case of COVID-19 Friday, the lowest single-day number since June 9. Bulloch also recorded one case that day, and June 4 was the last day no new local cases were reported.
In addition to Friday’s single case, Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn said Bulloch reported 10 new cases on Thursday. The county has now recorded 3,102 total COVID cases, which have resulted in 33 deaths and 144 local residents being hospitalized since the pandemic began in March.
Also, with one day to go, October’s 211 new cases will be the fewest number of new cases in a month in Bulloch since only 21 were recorded in May. Cases shot up 277 in June and 693 in July. August has been the worst single month, when 971 new cases were reported. The numbers dropped slightly in September to 887, before seeing the significant decline in October.
In his report Friday, Wynn said East Georgia Regional Medical Center staff were caring for 23 patients, with eight patients on ventilators. While it is not known how many of the hospital patients are Bulloch residents, hospitalizations have climbed to 23 since 11 were reported hospitalized last Sunday.
Bulloch EMS has transported a total of 128 people with probable COVID-19 and 138 with confirmed cases.
Georgia reported 1,662 news cases on Thursday and 1,538 on Friday, bringing the state’s total number of confirmed cases up to 358,225. Georgia reported 44 deaths Thursday and 35 on Friday, raising the death toll to 7,955.
As of Friday afternoon, 229,347 Americans had died from coronavirus, and the U.S. had recorded 9,015,262 confirmed cases, according to statistics from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
Bulloch Schools
Bulloch County Schools recorded one new case since Wednesday. The schools system now has had a total of 118 COVID cases since Aug. 17.
Local colleges
Georgia Southern reported 14 new cases for the week of Oct. 19-25. Georgia Southern will report again next Monday, Nov. 2.
East Georgia State College has not reported any new cases on any of its three campuses since Oct. 21. The college has had a total of 92 cases across its three campuses since Aug. 17.
Ogeechee Technical College reported one new COVID case on its campuses the week of Oct. 19–25. The college has had a total of 37 cases across its campuses since Aug. 17.
OTC will report again next Monday, Nov. 2.
Testing sites
The Bulloch County Health Department, 1 W. Altman St. in Statesboro, continues to serve as a COVID-19 testing site, or specimen point of collection. It operates 8 a.m. till noon Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. To schedule a free test, call (855) 473-4374 or visit www.sehdph.org/covid-19, where a test can be scheduled online.
Additional free COVID-19 testing continues Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon at Luetta Moore Park, 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.